R.J. Eskow, writing in the Huffington Post, « puts forth a manifesto for ‘progressive conservatives », which has 13 points:
‘1. To conserve our traditional moral values by standing up for for our longstanding national mission – to protect the weak, house the homeless, and defend the powerless.
’2. To conserve our Constitution by protecting us from unreasonable searches and seizures, much of it performed in ways our forebears couldn’t have imagined.
’3. To conserve free enterprise by defending smaller businesses from the depredations of supercorporations that suppress supply and demand – with the collaboration of the politicians they’ve bought and paid for.
’4. To conserve our democracy by attacking corruption and all forms of vote fraud, electronic and otherwise.
’5. To conserve our rights as free Americans to live as we please, love whom we please, and liberate ourselves from the “mind-forged manacles” of preconception and bigotry.
’6. To conserve our liberties by standing up for freedom of speech, assembly, and religion. That means conserving the separation of church and state, too. It was good enough for the founders and it’s good enough for us.
’7. To conserve our environment by protecting it for the many against the greedy few.
’8. To conserve our national assets by spending no more than we collect, and by making sure the wealthiest among us contribute their fair share to the country that made them wealthy.
’9. To conserve America’s military might by using it only when needed, and only where other avenues have failed.
’10. To conserve the bipartisanship and dialog that’s been the lifeblood of our political system, by dismantling the debate-crushing machine that’s hijacked Congress for the last five years.
’11. To conserve the values of the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason, which are under attack from all three branches of government.
’12. To conserve a freedom we’ve never had to name and defend before – “Freedom of Science” – from the commisars of the right whocientists what they can research and how they’re allowed to discuss it in public.
’13. And lastly, to conserve the future itself by ensuring we feed, care for, and educate all of our children.’
—Huffington Post
Somebody get it together and form this party and get candidates on local, state and national ballots and I’ll vote for it. Straight party ticket every time.